Kara Lawson is the new U.S. women’s basketball team head coach for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic cycle, hired by one of her old rivals — Sue Bird — to follow the path of Lawson’s legendary college coach — Pat Summitt.
Lawson, the 44-year-old Duke head coach, succeeds Cheryl Reeve at the helm of a program seeking a record-extending ninth consecutive Olympic title.
“I will work tirelessly to uphold the standards of this storied program,” Lawson said in a USA Basketball press release. “There is no greater honor in our sport than to be chosen to lead the U.S. women in world competition. I understand the responsibility and the challenges that lie ahead. I look forward to meeting them head on.
“This has been something I’ve worked towards for a long time.”
From 🇺🇸 #USABWNT player to National Team head coach. @karalawson20 is one of our own. pic.twitter.com/kaxWde4hiF
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) September 22, 2025
The U.S.’ first Olympic women’s basketball title came at the 1984 Los Angeles Games with Summitt as the head coach.
Now Lawson, an All-American under Summitt at Tennessee, is set to coach the team as the Olympics return to LA.
Lawson got emotional when speaking about Summitt, who died in 2016, at a press conference Tuesday inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. Two chairs were reserved with flowers on their seats: one of Summitt, and one right next to it for Lawson’s father, William, who died in 2017.
“Three years is a long time to wait, but I will assure you, to walk into that Olympics in the same city that my coach did and to lead this team in pursuit of the gold medal is very special,” Lawson said.
Lawson won Olympic gold as a player in 2008 and began her coaching career in 2017, fittingly with USA Basketball with the women’s 3x3 program. She said it was then that she set a goal to become the head coach of the Olympic 5x5 team.
First, she coached the first U.S. Olympic women’s 3x3 team at the Tokyo Games, taking gold.
She was an assistant on Reeve’s staff at the 2024 Paris Games and then head coach at the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup, which the U.S. won in July in Chile.
She was also an assistant with the Boston Celtics in the 2019-20 season before taking over at Duke in 2020.
Lawson would be the second Black woman to be head coach of the Olympic team after Tokyo Olympic head coach Dawn Staley and the third gold medalist as a player to be head coach after Staley and Anne Donovan.
Lawson is Bird’s first major hire since the five-time Olympic gold medalist was named national team managing director in May. Bird’s choice of Lawson was approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.
“Having shared the court with her, I know firsthand the leadership, competitive spirit and basketball IQ that she brings,” Bird said in the release.
Lawson was Bird’s backup on the 2008 Olympic team. They were opposing guards in the UConn-Tennessee heyday, including in the national championship game in 2000 and the Final Four in 2002.
College Basketball: Tennessee Kara Lawson (20) in action vs UConn Sue Bird (10) at Thompson-Boling Arena. Knoxville, TN 02/01/2001 CREDIT: Patrick Murphy-Racey (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Set Number: X62438 TK2 R5 F5 )
Kara Lawson guarded by Sue Bird while rivals in college. (Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Lawson and Bird, also 44, played against each other as far back as the Under-11 AAU Nationals, according to reports from 2000.
“I remember meeting Kara. She was in 5th grade. I was in 6th,” Bird said in 2000, according to the Chicago Tribune. “She wore pigtails, and we called her that.”
Bird told the pigtails story again Tuesday. She said that Lawson was one of two names that emerged as strong candidates for the job.
She called Lawson to make the offer while in a New York airport. Lawson was in the Atlanta airport.
“Pretty quickly it was just, hey, if you’d like this job, it’s yours kind of a vibe,” Bird said.
Lawson has said that a major influence that Summitt had on her was in communication. That will be key for somebody coaching stars from across the WNBA who must accept different roles with the national team.
“I think (Summitt) would probably tell me to enjoy the opportunity, to be myself and to make sure we were good on defense,” Lawson said.
The U.S.’ next major tournament is the FIBA World Cup in Germany in September 2026.
At the Paris Games, the U.S. women’s basketball team broke the Olympic team sport record with an eighth consecutive gold medal.
The Americans have won 61 consecutive Olympic basketball games since a defeat in the semifinals of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics to the Unified Team.
FOR US 🇺🇸😈 pic.twitter.com/upg6zs3D9Y
— Duke Women’s Basketball (@DukeWBB) September 23, 2025
